Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races has released its final 2022 live racing calendar and open stakes schedule for the coming year following approval by the West Virginia Racing Commission at its Tuesday morning meeting.
Charles Town's 2022 live racing calendar calls for 174 days of live racing, including a Wednesday through Saturday schedule in March, April and May as well as September through December with racing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the remainder of the year. The track has already lost and rescheduled days in January due to inclement weather. Post time for all but one day on the Charles Town calendar is 7:00 P.M. EST.
Charles Town's biggest day in its 2022 schedule follows up on a format that started in 2020 and has subsequently produced two of the three largest handles in Charles Town's history, as Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races presents both of its graded stakes – the $1,000,000 Charles Town Classic (G2) and $500,000 Charles Town Oaks (G3) – on the same Friday, Aug. 26 card. The Charles Town Classic and Charles Town Oaks will headline the action on a 13-race program that gets underway with a special first post of 5:00 P.M. EST.
Run for $1,000,000 in available purse money in its first eleven editions, the Classic will jump back into seven-figure territory for the first time since local star Runnin'toluvya took the 2019 edition with the pandemic impacting available purses in both 2020 and 2021. The Oaks also received a purse increase to $500,000, matching where it stood in 2014, the first year it was run as a graded race. The three other unrestricted stakes on the Classic night undercard – the Russell Road, Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon and Robert Hilton Memorial – also received hikes to $250,000.
“We're incredibly pleased with the business results of the last two Charles Town Classic programs and look forward to ramping up the card this August,” said Charlie McIntosh, Charles Town's Director of Racing. “The lineup of racing will be very strong and with it projecting as the most lucrative card in our history, we see no reason this shouldn't also be the most anticipated.”
Charles Town's, full stakes schedule including its restricted stakes and the West Virginia Breeders' Classics XXXVI card – expected to be held on Oct. 8 – will be announced at a later date.
| CHARLES TOWN 2022 OPEN STAKES SCHEDULE | ||||
| Run Date | Race | Condition | Distance | Nomination Closing |
| August 26 | $1,000,000 Charles Town Classic (G2) | 3&up | 1 1/8 Miles | August 5 |
| August 26 | $500,000 Charles Town Oaks (G3) | F 3YO | 7 Furlongs | August 5 |
| August 26 | $250,000 Robert Hilton Memorial | 3YO | 7 Furlongs | August 12 |
| August 26 | $250,000 Russell Road S. | 3&up | 7 Furlongs | August 12 |
| August 26 | $250,000 Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon S. | F&M 3&up | 7 Furlongs | August 12 |
The post Charles Town Classic Purse Increased To $1 Million For 2022 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
